A certain fruit stand sold apples for $0.70 each and bananas for $0.50 each. If a customer purchased both apples and bananas from the stand for a total of $6.30, what total number of apples and bananas did the customer purchase?
(A) 10
(B) 11
(C) 12
(D) 13
(E) 14
Please help me with this question. I want to solve this question with answer plug in approach (which I could do in a minute or 1.5 mins).
Thanks
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A certain fruit stand sold apples for $0.70 each and bananas
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GMATGuruNY
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Let $B = the amount spent on bananas and $A = the amount spent on apples.melguy wrote:A certain fruit stand sold apples for $0.70 each and bananas for $0.50 each. If a customer purchased both apples and bananas from the stand for a total of $6.30, what total number of apples and bananas did the customer purchase?
(A) 10
(B) 11
(C) 12
(D) 13
(E) 14
Since each banana sells for 50 cents, we get the following options for $B, in cents:
50, 100, 150, 200...
Every value in the list above ends in 50 or 00.
Implication:
Since $B + $A = 630, $A must end in either 80 or 30.
Since each apple sells for 70 cents, we get the following options for $A:
70, 140, 210, 280...
Test the value in blue.
If $A = 280, then $B = 630-280 = 350.
In this case:
Number of apples purchased = (total spent on apples)/(price per apple) = 280/70 = 4.
Number of bananas purchased = (total spent on bananas)/(price per banana) = 350/50 = 7.
Total amount of fruit purchased = 4+7 = 11.
The correct answer is B.
Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Sat Dec 17, 2016 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Here's an approach where we test the POSSIBLE SCENARIOS.A certain fruit stand sold apples for $0.70 each and bananas for $0.50 each. If a customer purchased both apples and bananas for a total of $6.30, what number of apples and bananas did the customer purchase.
A)10
B)11
C)12
D)13
E)14
FACT #1: (total cost of apples) + (total cost of bananas) = 630 CENTS
FACT #2: total cost of bananas is DIVISIBLE by 50, since each banana costs 50 cents.
Now let's start testing POSSIBLE scenarios.
Customer buys 1 apple.
1 apple costs 70 cents, which means the remaining 560 cents was spent on bananas.
Since 560 is NOT divisible by 50, this scenario is IMPOSSIBLE
Customer buys 2 apples.
2 apple costs 140 cents, which means the remaining 490 cents was spent on bananas.
Since 490 is NOT divisible by 50, this scenario is IMPOSSIBLE
Customer buys 3 apples.
3 apple costs 210 cents, which means the remaining 520 cents was spent on bananas.
Since 520 is NOT divisible by 50, this scenario is IMPOSSIBLE
Customer buys 4 apples.
4 apple costs 280 cents, which means the remaining 350 cents was spent on bananas.
Since 350 IS divisible by 50, this scenario is POSSIBLE
350 cents buys 7 bananas.
So, the customer buys 4 apples and 7 bananas for a total of 11 pieces of fruit
Answer: B
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Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
